Darwin\u27s Irish correspondence

peer-reviewedSearches of Darwin?s correspondence show that some 160 letters crossed between him and naturalists and others with an Irish address. While few in number, compared to Darwin?s 14,000 other known letters, some of this correspondence provoked frequent exchanges between Darwin and his closest collaborators, occasionally leading to amendments to The origin of species or becoming material for Darwin?s other publications. The absence of Darwin references in the contemporaneous Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy or journals of the Royal Dublin Society, where local naturalists published their work, has to be viewed together with the absence in those journals of references to the Irish famines. Other publications of a broader cultural focus engaged both topics in a lively way. Darwin?s correspondence was also surveyed for the subject of the island of Ireland, in relation to observations on the distribution of a small group of plants common to Asturias in northern Spain and to the south and west of Ireland, but absent elsewhere in Europe. Patterns of distribution of mitochondrial and Y-specific human DNA markers in western Europe that overlap the distribution of these Asturian plants suggest a common cause for both sets of observations. A modern hypothesis based on these DNA findings is supported by the observations made 150 years ago

If it Ain't Broken, Do Not Fix it: The Complex Dynamic of Introducing New Teaching Methods in Ancient Third Level Education Institutions

Ancient scholarly institutions can boast of a successful history of academic excellence going back centuries. It is not surprising, therefore, that the lecturing staff that have best assimilated such spirit show a certain reluctance to change their ways, particularly when teaching features as second fiddle to research and is very much the exclusive domain of the lecturer. The purpose of this letter is twofold: First, to offer our academic and administrative colleagues an instrument for reflection on the suitability or otherwise of e-Learning as applied to third-level education, since e-Learning features in the strategic plans of many third-level institutions today, in spite of the fact that many among the teaching staff might not have grasped the concept of e-Learning. Second, the letter also aims at pointing out some genuine objective difficulties posed by trying to implement instances of rapidly changing technology in what could well be considered a bastion of conservatism, that is to say, the teaching methods of academics that have succeeded in their research field and have long experience in teaching largely as they themselves were taught three or more decades ago, as suggested by the wise adage; if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it

Correspondence of Charles Darwin on James Torbitt\u27s project to breed blight-resistant potatoes

peer-reviewedThe most prolific of Darwin?s correspondents from Ireland was James Torbitt, an enterprising grocer and wine merchant of 58 North Street, Belfast. Between February 1876 and March 1882, 141 letters were exchanged on the feasibility and ways of supporting one of Torbitt?s commercial projects, the large-scale production and distribution of true potato seeds (Solan um tuberosum) to produce plants resistant to the late blight fungus Phytophthora infestans, the cause of repeated potato crop failures and thus the Irish famines in the nineteenth century. Ninety-three of these letters were exchanged between Torbitt and Darwin, and 48 between Darwin and third parties, seeking or offering help and advice on the project. Torbitt?s project required selecting the small proportion of plants in an infested field that survived the infection, and using those as parents to produce seeds. This was a direct application of Darwin?s principle of selection. Darwin cautiously lobbied high-ranking civil servants in London to obtain government funding for the project, and also provided his own personal financial support to Torbitt